Virtual reality, blinking robots: See inside TCU’s new medical school building on Rosedale

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A virtual reality skeleton hovers above the floor, its muscles, nervous system and organs visible.

When instructor Adam Jennings magnifies the brain to the size of a small golf cart, students wearing headsets “step into” the 3D model to get a better view of the organ. The model is so detailed, it’s hard to believe it’s not the real thing.

The Microsoft Hololens, with about 30 interactive models of the body and its systems, is just one of the high-tech tools used by medical students at TCU’s new Burnett School of Medicine . Cutting-edge technology is a standard part of the curriculum.

“I think that’s what TCU does really well, innovative curriculum,” said Bijan Hosseini, a first-year medical student.

Five years after TCU launched the medical school, its new building has opened in Fort Worth’s Near Southside Neighborhood. Situated on West Rosedale Street in the heart of the Medical District, the state-of-the-art training ground for future doctors is less than a mile from the Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital, Cook Children’s Medical Center, Medical City Fort Worth hospital and Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center - Fort Worth.

Though the medical school is about three miles from the rest of campus, TCU president Daniel Pullin said it is an important part of the university’s “culture of collaboration,” and there are opportunities for other schools to join in on cross-disciplinary projects.

Pullin noted the importance of support from the community, hospital partners, donors and city leaders in bringing the project to fruition.

“We’re all in it together, and we’re going to make a difference,” he said.

High-tech training ground

On the first floor is a 60-seat classroom where students discuss cases and learn about specific conditions during class. Projector screens drop from all four sides of the cavernous classroom’s ceiling, literally surrounding students with each lesson.

Most of the third floor resembles a brand new hospital. A mock operating room, complete with surgical lights, equipment and a robotic mannequin “patient,” is one training ground. To simulate working with real patients, students practice on life-size mannequins that blink, talk, move and respond to questions — they can even sweat and cry.

Next door is a mock hospital ward, filled with robot patients of all ages, from babies and children to adults.

The third floor is also home to exam rooms where students practice by diagnosing actors who are trained to present with a particular disease. Students are evaluated on their diagnosis and how well they communicate with the patient. TCU is focused on creating “empathetic scholars,” students who will be able to put themselves in a patient’s shoes when they become physicians.

Exam rooms have microphones and cameras, which allow faculty to monitor their students’ performance from viewing stations across the hall. At the end of a session, the instructors return to the exam room where they and the “patient” share feedback with the student.

Unlike most medical school programs, TCU students begin clinical training at local hospitals and private practices in their first year.

“It’s been really cool to see the medicine really come alive in the clinic,” said Martha-Grace Mclean, a first-year medical student.

Tucked behind the facade’s blond brick arches, the school’s library feels more like a museum than a traditional study space. A glass wall overlooks the lobby.

TCU’s Burnett School of Medicine opened in 2019. The school has 240 students and departments in family medicine, pediatrics, surgery, internal medicine, clinical sciences, emergency medicine, medical education and obstetrics and gynecology.

The medical school receives about 7,000 applications each year for only 60 spots in its first-year class.

The facility is named after local philanthropist Anne Burnett Marion, who directed her estate to give the school of medicine a $25 million endowment before she died in 2020.

A growing footprint

TCU anticipates the medical school will generate $4 billion in annual economic impact starting in 2030.

The new medical school building is a cornerstone of TCU’s campus master plan , a sweeping framework for the future of the campus that includes 25 proposed new buildings.

The master plan states the medical school is “positioned to expand over time.” New facilities could be private development partnerships, “accelerator and incubation facilities” or spaces designed to house other internal and external partnerships.

Pullin said the building is an anchor for a “broader healthcare strategy” TCU will embark on in the coming years.

TCU has not committed to building out the entire master plan, but any construction could dramatically transform the campus with new student housing, parking, greenspace, academic buildings, athletic facilities and more.

Nearly 13,000 students are enrolled at TCU for the fall 2024 semester, a roughly 1% increase from fall 2023.

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